Even woman officers want adultery law in army

NEW DELHI: As the ministry of defence presses its case in the top court on the importance of retaining the criminality of adultery in the armed forces — the apex court decriminalised it in 2018 — it emerges that, at least in some cases, what’s sauce for the goose may not be sauce for the gander.

Hindustan Times has accessed two written accounts from women officers who complained about their husbands’ affairs with other enlisted women, but had to eventually withdraw their complaints.

The defence ministry’s application before the court emphasised that the army didn’t discriminate between male and female officers, and punished them for “unbecoming conduct” regardless of gender, but the two women and a cross-section of defence counsellors and lawyers admitted that, perhaps inadvertently, women officers may not have received the traditional support that was provided by commanding officers or their wives.

The armed forces see adultery — “stealing the affections of a brother officer’s wife” — as an offence that is just a notch below the worst offence enlisted personnel can be accused of, cowardice. The provision to deal with this, drawn from section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, exists in all three services, and the punishment is usually dismissal. Section 45 (conduct unbecoming) or section 63 (violation of good order and discipline) are both offences that are gender-neutral and hence applicable to both men and women in the military.

Section 497 of the IPC didn’t enable women to press charges against their husbands in case of adultery. Proceedings could only be started by men and it was only men who could be punished under the law. But under military law, a woman officer can complain if she suspects her husband of having a relationship with another woman officer.

Just as attorney general KK Venugopal pointed out how decriminalisation can cause “instability” for personnel posted in border or far-flung locations, the two cases accessed by HT are both of women army officers who were posted in Kashmir. As they are both serving officers, they requested that their identities not be disclosed.

The first case dates back to 2018, when one of the woman officers and her two children were posted in a different location from her husband of 14 years. Her husband ended up having an affair with a single, much younger woman officer who was posted along with him.